Stanford emerges first, while NUS is ranked 94th, for innovation

After National University of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological University (NTU) broke into the top 15 for the first time in the 2015 QS World University Rankings last week, it was surprising to see them plummet down the list in a separate ranking – based solely on innovation.

This new list was compiled based on data from Thomson Reuters Intellectual Property & Science, taking into consideration factors such as the number of patents filed, how often they were accepted, how often they are cited and the impact of their citations.

The ranking was dominated by universities from the USA in the first nine positions, led by Stanford University in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, followed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and Harvard University as the top three.

The report noted that Stanford’s faculty and alumni have founded some of the biggest tech companies in the world, including Hewlett-Packard, Yahoo and Google.

It scored especially high marks when it came to impactful research: its articles and patents are frequently cited by researchers in the academic and corporate worlds.

Korea Advanced Institute of Science & Technology (KAIST) led the Asia ranking, in 10th place, followed by Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH) in 12th, and Japan’s Osaka University in 18th position.

In Europe, Switzerland stands out. With three schools on the list and a population of just over 8 million people, it has more top 100 innovative universities per capita than any other country in the world.

Reuters noted that, since the list measures innovation on a university-wide basis, it may overlook particularly innovative specific departments or programmes, and “absence from this list does not indicate an institution is failing to innovate”.